Professor Johannes Hans Zopke

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Professor Hans Zopke (b 1866; d August 25, 1918 in Berlin, Germany) was a Royal Navy engineer and professor of technical and mechanical engineering instructions at the Technical University in Berlin. He traveled to America to study electric automotives such as elevated and surface railroads in New York and other US cities. (6) In 1896 he won an appointment as Professor of Engineering at Columbian University, now George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., (4) but he returned to Berlin. Hans Zopke founded and directed the Higher Technical State Institute in Berlin from 1907 until his death in 1918. (2) William was acquainted with Zopke and saw him occasionally.

William Steinway identified Professor Zopke as Hans Zopke but also as Herr [Mr.] Zopke. The professor visited America several times (Diary, 1894-09-25; 1895-07-06) and stated to The New York Times that he was , Prof. Zopke called on William. He in turn invited him to supper and to social events of the German-American community. (Diary, 1894-10-13; 1895-04-21) Hans Zopke became best known for his article on Professor Franz Reuleaux, A Biographical Sketch, published in 1896. Reuleaux was considered the father of kinematics.(8) He also lectured at Cornell University on the work assigned him by his government and reported upon all branches of mechanical technology in the United States. (5)

A paper by an American engineer who visited Prof. Zopke's lab in Berlin is reprinted in the 1901 Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.(3) In 1903 Prof. Zopke lectured on naval applications of the telephone at a meeting of the Shipbuilding Technical Society in Berlin. (7)

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Sources:

1. "Electricity on railways," The New York Times; November 7, 1895, p. 15.
2. "Former professors and docents", Hamburg University of Applied Science, http://www.mp.haw-hamburg.de/EhemalProfs/#Zopke =
3. Hammer, William J, The Telephonograph. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1901, Washington, GPO, 1902.
4. History of George Washington University - http://www.gwu.edu/history
5. "Professor Hans Zopke", The Cornell Daily Sun, Vol. XVI, no. 164, May 21, 1896, p. 1.
6. "Railroad men and matters", The New York Times, October 9, 1894, p. 2.
7. "Science applied to warfare", The New York Times, November 21, 1903, p. 8.
8. Zopke, Hans "Professor Franz Reuleaux: A Biographical Sketch, Cassiers Magazine, New York, Vol. XI, No. 2, December 1896, pp. 133-139.